Fifties, Music Blog

Love Me Tender

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday post
‘Matching Song and Movie Titles’ where he asks us
to write about a song that was used as the
title of a movie. Here is my ‘matching title’.

Every movie has a soundtrack, not just musicals. Some may be grand sweeping music of epic proportions such as Star Wars and Mission: Impossible while others simply add atmosphere, as we see in suspenseful movies like Jaws or Psycho. Whether written for a rom-com or a psychological thriller, the soundtrack is a key element to a movie.

Today for Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday theme “Matching Song and Movie Titles”,  I’ve chosen the beautiful old love song, “Love Me Tender” from the movie of the same name. On November 15, 1956, moviegoers were introduced to actor Elvis Presley in this film set during the dying hours of the Civil War. Elvis sang four songs in the movie, including the title song.

Set in 1865, the three Confederate Reno Brothers don’t know the war has ended. They manage to steal a Union Army payroll and head for home with the money. Vance Reno can’t wait to get back to Cathy, the love of his life, but it turns out that the brothers have been reported dead and Cathy has married their youngest brother, Clint (Elvis) … the only one who did not go off to war. Vance accepts this until he learns that Cathy still loves him. To complicate things, the US Army knows of the brothers’ theft and is hunting them down. If you haven’t seen this movie, check it out. It’s good entertainment.

When Elvis was contracted for his role in the movie, it was decided that he would sing a non-rock ballad …. his first ever. The movie’s music director, Ken Darby, found the melody for a 95-year-old Civil War song called “Aura Lee“, written by George R. Poulton in 1861. “Aura Lee” needed no restructuring, but new words were called for. The song was recorded on August 24, 1956, with new lyrics by Ken Darby, and released on September 28, 1956. “Love Me Tender” was born!

Elvis’ record label, RCA Records, received over one million pre-orders for “Love Me Tender”. This was the first time a record received gold status before it was released. In 1956, “Love Me Tender” replaced Elvis’ songs “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog” on the Billboard chart, making Elvis the first artist to replace himself in the #1 position. The movie Love Me Tender was originally to be titled The Reno Brothers, but when advanced sales of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” single passed one million, the film’s title was changed to match.

On October 28, 1956, exactly one month after the record was released, Elvis Presley make his 2nd appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Although at first Ed Sullivan said he didn’t want Elvis on his show, he changed his mind when his competition ….The Steve Allen Show …. had Elvis as a guest and had about twice as many viewers as Sullivan’s show that night. After negotiating with Elvis’ manager, Ed Sullivan agreed to pay Elvis the huge sum of $50,000 for appearing on three of his shows .… September 9, 1956, October 28, 1956 and January 6, 1957. Elvis’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a major success, with over 60 million people watching. It’s believed that Elvis’ TV appearance helped bridge the generation gap; eight years later, 73 million people watched the Beatles’ debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.

The video I have selected for you today is a classic …. Elvis’ 2nd appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It’s Elvis, up close and personal on live TV. He seems a bit uncomfortable at first, not sure of where to look. His voice cracked once or twice but that didn’t take away from the performance. By the second verse, Elvis had warmed up to the audience, mugging for the camera (much to the delight of the female population). Due to much controversy over Elvis’ well-known gyrations, the network decided to censor his performance by filming him only from the waist up. The live audience got to see all of Elvis and the ladies in the theatre loudly showed their appreciation.

This is “Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley


LYRICS

Love me tender,
love me sweet,
never let me go.
You have made my life complete
and I love you so.

Love me tender,
love me true,
all my dreams fulfill.
For my darlin’ I love you,
and I always will.

Love me tender,
love me long,
tell me you are mine.
I’ll be yours through all the years,
till the end of time.

Love me tender,
love me true,
all my dreams fulfill.
For my darlin’ I love you
and I always will.

Love me tender,
love me when
we are far apart.
I’ll be with you even then,
deep within your heart.

Well, love me tender,
love me true,
all my dreams fulfill.
For my darlin’ I love you
and I always will.

Label: RCA Victor
Songwriter(s): George R. Poulton/Ken Darby
Producer(s): Ernie Oelhrich/Thorne Norgar

Here’s Elvis singing “Love Me Tender” 12 years later.

I’ve never was much of an Elvis fan but, damn …. he was so handsome …. almost too handsome …. with a smooth and sultry voice.

This is the movie trailer from IMDb. Elvis is so very young!

Matching Song and Movie Titles

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some tunes.

And that’s all she wrote. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

49 thoughts on “Love Me Tender”

  2. Great song, super star singer of course. I never saw the movie but it looks good. I saw a few other of his movies though, and like his songs, but wasn’t a huge fan. I’ve come to appreciate him a lot more now. 🙂

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      1. Wonderful to listen to! 🥰 (I will never forget the day Elvis passed… playing Barbies with my friend and reading the announcement scroll across the t.v. 😢) Thank you and a happy Sunday to you! 🌻

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  6. This is a great song Nancy, and I loved your post. I have watched many Elvis movies and most of his films are widely viewed as having poor plots, really bad acting, and overall low production quality, but I never watched this movie and someday I will check it out,

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    1. Thanks so much, Laura. Love your very kind and gracious comments. It’s a real blessing to be a storyteller and also write about music …. two great joys for me and the reason for my name change. I’m thrilled to know you enjoy what I do. 😄 🖊️🎶💛

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  12. I was never an Elvis fan either, but I have to admit that this was a wonderful song and such a great performance. I saw the movie on tv here back in childhood days and remember enjoying it – 50+ years ago!

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  15. Nice stuff, Nancy. Gotta love E. Not one of his best flicks, guys in the Civil War didn’t go around playing a guitar and singing. My favorite movie of his was Viva Las Vegas, followed by Blue Hawaii. Of course, Ann Margret had a lot to do with my choice. That boy should have snatched her up when he had the chance, those two were like peas and carrots. Back in those days, all us guys in our little gang had the Hubba-Hubba’s for Ann.

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    1. We gotta cut the boy some slack; it was his first movie, after all. You’re not kidding about Ann Margret; she was one spicy dish of Gravlax. I would have given my eye teeth to be like Ann Margret. Can you imagine the beautiful babies she and Elvis would have made? Well, she married Roger Smith (who could have been a Norman Rockwell model) and stayed with him for 50 years through all is serious health issues. Things happen for a reason, Phil.

      Thanks much.

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  17. A classic choice, Nancy … I’ll delve a bit deeper, an Aussie song, by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis …
    “It’s a magnificent but vicious film that’s difficult to watch at times, and it’s the music that both amplifies that, but also provides much-needed comfort where there is little to be found.” – Caz Tran

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